Beauty's Deadly Butt

Nigerian born British wannabe hip-hop star, Claudia Aderotimi, died after an illegal cosmetic implant to enhance her bottom went tragically wrong. The university student, 20, flew to Philadelphia, US, for silicone jabs to increase the curve of her buttocks.

But Claudia, of Hackney, East London, suffered chest pains after the injections and died in hospital. US cops are investigating. She wanted the jabs because she thought having a bigger bottom would make her FAMOUS, heartbroken pals say. Claudia was desperate to transform her image with cosmetic surgery so she could appear in music videos.
Friends revealed her confidence had dipped after she was dropped from a previous promo because her “booty” was too small. But the £1,000 procedure, carried out in a budget Philadelphia hotel, ended in disaster when Claudia suffered agonizing chest pains and died.

As if there were not a good number of vain and superficial Nigerian women, here comes a tragic and arresting case. Apparently, Nigerian women are not going to play second fiddle to women everywhere where plastic surgeries are concerned. You would have thought that if African women were going to spend a fortune in the service of their vanity, they might perhaps work on things like fixing crooked noses, straightening crooked teeth, removing unsightly moles etc. You may not have guessed that there are African women out there going to get elective surgeries to enhance what Negro women were usually blessed with on average above their racial compeers.

But that’s precisely where we are now—Nigerian women going for cosmetic surgeries to make relatively okay-looking or perhaps slightly better than average hindquarters LARGER; making relatively normal-looking or slightly bigger breasts even BIGGER; making relatively average or slightly fuller lips even more rounder, firmer and fuller. And so on and so forth. No wonder the beauty industry is a mega billion dollar per year business.

Now, I am not even compelled to attempt to focus some light on the fleeting standards of beauty, and how the sights on television help to reinforce a Eurocentric standard. I am not even pushed to attempt some jaundiced and ill-informed speculation about the psychological status of this celebrity huntress. If anything, I am more annoyed at the wanton carelessness displayed by this vain video vixen. She is a student, but somehow, she could spare a thousand pounds (roughly $1600) to make her butt bigger. Not every 20 year old international student in Britain can afford to jet out to the US with a thousand pounds for a cosmetic procedure, but could this money not have been put to better use?

How come she couldn’t seek the counsel of her parents or well-wishers before embarking on this radical idea? Perhaps a few friends might have dissuaded her since it’s a well-known fact that women often judge themselves harsher than others. If a padded trouser gave her what she wanted and created a credible illusion to other unfamiliar with her, why would she choose to go under the knife? So why would she choose to have this potentially life transforming major elective surgery in a hotel room of all places instead of a proper hospital environment?

If we can remember, Miss Stella Obasanjo also died on the operating table while getting a tummy tuck. There are countless other women who have become partially maimed or permanently disfigured in what little way or the other—all painful reminders of a foolhardy obsession with youth and beauty. I just wish people would learn to live with their bodies the way they are if they are not already disfigured or impaired.

Ladies, especially Nigerian ladies, quit disgracing yourselves with this stultifying preoccupation with ephemeral beauty, fleeting fashion and invasive plastic surgery.